


Trust in a Single Tear

by Kitkattu



Category: Granblue Fantasy (Video Game)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, also tags your ao3 because i'm following that still so i remembered hehe, i feel like almost everything i write for them is fluff or hurt comfort, wow i have a type fgxfghhgkv
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:54:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23282851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitkattu/pseuds/Kitkattu
Summary: The ex-maiden can't help but look up to the captain of the Grandcypher; no one could help that. But she's figured out that that may weigh too much on them, and now she wants to lighten that burden. However long it takes...
Relationships: Diantha/Gran (Granblue Fantasy), Granthia
Kudos: 3





	Trust in a Single Tear

**Author's Note:**

  * For [maskros](https://archiveofourown.org/users/maskros/gifts).



> Wars and I chatted ideas a million years ago, and so this is technically a restoration of a renaissance painting. Is it exactly like it was that long ago? Who knows! Just know I love Granthia, and that explains it all~  
> Also the title is stupid but it's all I could think up SO

Why hadn’t Gran told her?

No, Diantha knew the answer to that question already. She tried not to think about it, holding in tears in the tense walk back to the ship, but quietly sneaking out at the first opportunity she saw to go and sob in her room. She didn’t have to think hard about the answer since it’s an excuse he would use in various different words and ways, and the more she knew him the more she struggled with holding herself back from burning that excuse to the ground. 

What made her cry so deeply, though, was that it was an understandable excuse. She had tried on that excuse herself, in different lights and angles and trains of thought. But she’s been trying her best to leave them behind; writing them out of her vocabulary as much as she could when she remembered to. Of course it’s never easy when you stuck to them for a lot of your life, but slowly and surely you could choose to not use the excuse until it doesn’t quite pop into your head.

Gran couldn’t. It could jeopardize the entire crew’s trust in them, or so they probably thought. Deep down that fear was true, but deeper down she knew it was just words to excuse themselves for lying so much, having to be the captain everyone trusted and loved. 

So why didn’t they tell the crew that he trusted the most?

Lyria and Vryn were their best friends; practically attached at the hip and a couple of the greatest listeners the crew knows. And the rest of the main gang are equally great, with bags worth of advice to spout as well. But Gran couldn’t trust them enough to say anything, at least not until it was too late, Rackam’s nagging words pouring over like an oil spill and onto the spark in Gran’s mind that made them ignite like a roaring fire. But it was doused so quickly in their mind. If the search party had blinked they would’ve missed Gran shouting about how it didn’t matter if they lived or died; as long as everyone else stayed safe it was fine. Because it was their job as captain to guide them and keep them safe, and no one was going to tell them what was and wasn’t right when they had just saved a family’s life. 

But that was that, and Gran just brushed it off as what the risk was in dangerous situations. You could die, or at least get hurt or injured, but you do that to protect people when you’re a fighter. And then they ended it at that and started walking, leaving the rest who had come along to completely soak in their words.

And they walked in silence the rest of the way to the Grandcypher.

And not once did Gran even try to take back their words. But also, not once did Gran look anyone in the eye, and the distance in their walks seemed intentionally great...

Diantha honestly wondered if any of them were talking about it with one another, or if they had hidden themselves in solitude as fast as she had. She knew Gran had to be in their room, silently berating themselves on the slip up but not quite ready to confront the weight it could potentially hold. And at least Rackham was regretting the whole thing and berating himself in his mind for making Gran go off like that, but also wanting to punch the kid for the stupid things they said. Diantha was in a more Rackham mindset, but no punching and more…

Before she knew it, she was at the captain’s quarters. It sounded so quiet behind the door, and even all down the hall there wasn’t a peep from anyone save for her own feet gently walking on the creaking wood. Maybe that was because it was late, or maybe they had all gathered somewhere without her. Either way, it was the perfect time to at least try and…

She paused her confident knocking hand just inches from the door. Would anything she wanted to say actually help Gran at all? She came here with the sole intention of saying all of her thoughts that she had in mind, but would it be encouraging or just added pressure hearing her wants and worries in a trembling voice. She should’ve at least practiced in her bedroom mirror; sorted out all her thoughts so as to not just ramble about how much Gran’s life mattered to her even if it didn’t to him in those moments. How it didn’t matter to her if they were this almighty singularity or just this country bumpkin; they were just the ones who saved her from a dark scenario, and in turn saved her from a dark pit she could’ve never escaped, instead showing that she could jump off that cliff at the edge of her island and soar through the vast blue skies. And how their smile was the sun, and its presence was the warmth on a winter’s day, and how she basked simply in that aura of the person who just simply extended their hand ---

Her own absentminded knocking on the door caught her off guard, doing that while she was lost in thought but realizing it probably gave away her presence. “G-Gran?” Fumbled out afterwards in a soft tone, not wanting them to be on the offensive should they be expecting a talking to from one of the older crew members. “It’s Diantha,” as if they didn’t know, “I just wanted to see...H-How are you feeling?” Perhaps a loaded question, but any way of telling it would probably provide the same little knot that formed in her chest. The smallest creak could be heard on the floorboards; with the stillness of everything, save her breathing, that pricked her ears a bit. But nothing followed after. She wondered if that meant they were just trying to ignore her question, thinking for a long time and not needing to be disturbed while doing so. Maybe that was for the best to let everything settle...But her mind couldn’t, and good her heart wouldn’t. She could never say anything if tomorrow the other crew members berated them, and she wouldn’t get any sleep if she didn’t say something to their face now. Just a little crack of the door, opening it slowly while taking the tiniest step forward, she would say everything in a few short breaths and then ---

Her heart sank at seeing the curled up figure leaning against where the bedframe and the wall met, so obviously shivering as if a blizzard were raging around them. And then seeing the slightest creak from her as she opened the door a bit wider, looking up at her bloodshot yet now dilated in panic, the tears from them bursting back to life but the free hand not covering their mouth trying desperately to kill their flow.

The fear.  
“Gran.” A firm stance on the name, on she’s never used and something that makes them both gasp. It wasn’t anger, never; it was her own serious panic rising in her chest, that was now starting to swell with a weird determination. A swift step into their room, a swift yet soft closing of the door, and a hand outstretched towards them. She was basically thinking on her feet here, but now it was on all fours, before she was sitting a good foot away with her hand still hovering around. 

“I…” She started, but doesn’t know how to go on, not even sure for exactly what reason in the given circumstances Gran was so upset about. Knowing them it was probably a mixture of everything coming into the form of a million thoughts swarming them, and then their leadership ideals poisoned them with how they were still keeping that hand clasped over their sobs. At this close she could hear how they tried to make their throat close in on itself, her own vocal chords straining at the muffled, broken sounds. And she stayed there listening, hovering hand now inching closer towards theirs, their eyes locked until her fingers daintily stroked the back of profusely sweaty skin. They looked even more shocked by the action, veins popping up from how they tensed, and then her hand was grabbed by it in a tight hold. 

“I…” They started, looking as if they were getting their senses back, but with it came such a pained expression that Diantha could feel a knife wedge itself into the knot in her chest. The hand hold tightened even more, Gran looking away as if they were ashamed any of this was happening at all, and then trying to shove the hold away entirely. Diantha gripping back had them looking back up, confusion and anger swirling together, but she was sure the latter wasn’t at her. “I’m...So sorry.” They started, going back to not meeting her gaze, their free hand wiping at their face more fervently again as their voice was still strangling a sob, “I-I shouldn’t be ---”

“That’s not it.” Stated as suddenly as grabbing that other hand, interlocking their fingers and having it hovering just above their head. The surprise was evident, looking at Diantha for answers only to find something more daunting: Her own watery eyes contrasting a soft smile. Sighing deeply to compose herself only brought the built up tears down her cheeks, and when Gran’s hand went to move them away she placed their hold firmly on the floor. “That’s...You should say sorry for earlier, not for this.” She chastised but with laughter mixed in, shaking her head with her words. “Th-This is just...Understandable. It’s understandable to be upset at something upsetting, right? Everyone has been and everyone is, and…” She paused, thumbs slowly rubbing over the back of his hands, a couple more tears sliding down her cheeks.

“...We love you. You know that, right?” She said, smile pressed into a thin line as she felt a sob rise looking at their surprised look. “And we want to talk to you about when things are upsetting and when upsetting things happen. But not because you’re supposed to be some wise captain with all this experience or anything, but just because we trust you as a friend. This crew is a whole lump of people who care about each other, and you are as equally a part of that as anything, so just…” The sob finally escaped, looking to the floor quickly to throw it down there, but then she instantly looked back up when she heard a small sob escape through Gran’s clenched teeth. She laughed into a few smaller sobs at it, feeling as if it was a joyous accomplishment to get that out of them, but surely it was. She wondered how Katalina could mom such a stubborn boy, or how much all of this holding back must’ve worried Lyria and Vyrn at times, and how now the weight of that was resting on her own heart…

Hands get unclasped, but that’s because she’s soon wrapping them around their shoulders, before both of her arms pull them into a warm embrace away from the wall. One of their hands went behind her so they didn’t just topple over, and another instinctively on her back to hold her steady, but she just honestly didn’t care about those bits. “You don’t have to hide all this away and hold it in, okay?” Spoken through a sob to prove it, in a way, “Before anything else, you’re...You’re someone I care about. And I don’t want anybody I care about going through something like this alone.” 

Ah, what she didn’t want to do is exactly what she got. But they were still all that she wanted to say, and all that she felt Gran needed to hear, however personal for herself it was. 

But Gran’s hand balling up the fabric of her shirt and leaning in, even if just so gently resting their head on her shoulder, was enough to feel like it wasn’t all her sudden heartache. Gran was never really going to confront this, or really anything dark in their mind for that matter, unless someone brought it into the light. And she had only now realized it, even if she had been in a similar kind of stance before. “... ‘M sorry.” Whispered through the softest cry in her ear made more tears leave her, one of her hands slowly rubbing circles in his back. They needed this spotlight, even for a brief moment, no matter how much they must hate her own worry right now. She needed it back when they first met; they and all her maiden friends had taught her that themselves, and now here she was, still learning from that night and healing with it. And, slowly but surely, she now wanted to be that reminder in return. If anything, at least for tonight, so that they could both rest a little easier.

So no other words were spoken. Instead, she simply shushed away his worry, before she hummed a made-up tune, not thinking too hard about it at all. They seemed to accept that, holding her in both arms as she continued to feel the rumbles of sobs held in their chest. She wished for a future where they could be vocalized and for them to talk more, even if both would probably both break and heal their hearts. But this little bit of trust, even if not mentioned in the morning, was enough for Diantha to hope for a more open future, and enough to hum for both of them until it put them both to sleep.


End file.
